Method of forming a pile for building construction purposes and the product thereof



Jan. 9, 1968 Filed Oct. 22, 1965 V. C. ARPAIA METHOD OF FORMING A PILE FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PURPOSES AND THE PRODUCT THEREOF 2 Sheets-Sheet l VINCENT C. A/e A/A JW 5. fladwell ATTORNEY Jan. 9, 1968 V. C. ARPAIA METHOD OF FORMING A FILE FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PURPOSES AND THE PRODUCT THEREOF Filed 001'. 22, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR l///vcE/v7' QARPA/A ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,362,171 METHOD OF FORMING A PILE FOR BUILDING CONSTRUQITION PURPOSES AND THE PRODUCT THEREQF Vincent C. Arpaia, Branford, Conn, assignor to C. W. Biakeslee 8: Sons, Inc., New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Oct. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 501,404 4- Claims. (Cl. 61-56) This invention relates to a method of forming a pile for building construction purposes and the product thereof, and relates more particularly to the type of pile construction provided to be driven into granular soil or under conditions in which no solid bottoming support for a pile is available such as a rock ledge.

Heretofore various techniques have been employed in an attempt to effectively solve the problem of providing a pile to effectively support the required load under the aforestated conditions. One known technique is to drive a pile having a longitudinal passageway therethrough into the earth and then excavate the earth below the pile and subsequently fill the excavation with grout forced through the passageway in the pile. Another known technique is to provide for the stated conditions a pile having grout passageways therein extending through the periphery thereof and forcing grout through these passageways as the pile is driven so that in effect the pile is driven through grout, which at least theoretically enlarges the effective diameter or cross section of the pile once the pile has been driven to the desired depth and the grout has hardened around the pile. Still another known technique is to provide a pile for such purposes having a grout tube therein for extrusion of grout under pressure from the lower end portion of the pile to mix with granular soil, for example, forming concrete once the pile has been driven to its desired depth.

All of these techniques have been subject to criticism of one form or another. Perhaps the most serious criticism has been the tendency of grout issuing from the pile or the concrete formed thereby to shear away from the pile under stress or under forces imposed on the pile in either longitudinal direction. Another objection to techniques heretofore employed has been the complexity and consequent time consumed and money expended to provide a pile in situ having an enlargement thereof formed of concretc.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved pile of the type generally described above, tending to be free of the aforementioned faults. Another object is to provide a simple method of fabricating such a pile. Further and more specific objects will be apparent from the foregoing detailed description of a presently preferred method of fabricating a pile and the product thereof.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a pile embodying the invention taken on line 11 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view showing one side face of the lower end portion of the pile from which grout is extruded;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the pile indicating diagrammatically the relationship of the pile and the bulbous mass formed by the grout extruded therefrom once the pile is driven;

FIG. 5 is a broken perspective view of the pile; and

FIG. 6 is an exploded view in perspective illustrating the lower end portion of the grout tube and the cooperating grout nozzle.

In the drawings there is shown a pile, indicated generally at it), formed substantially of concrete and of substantially solid construction. The pile, which may be of any desired design length, is substantially rectangular in cross section, having beveled corners as shown. The pile may also be of square cross section and of, say, 12 to 18 inches, for example, on each side. The head of the pile, which may include a steel plate or cap, is indicated at 11. In the illustrated form of the invention, the flat, steel plate-equipped tip is indicated at 12. However, the tip may comprise a pipe shoe extension for seating in rock when this is required.

It will be found desirable in most, if not all, cases to prestress the pile. This may be accomplished by wires, not shown, spirally wound substantially throughout the length of the pile and maintained in tension in the finished pile. The wires may be eight in number, for example, and each may be of a diameter of of an inch. The prestressing is of a conventional nature and, therefore, need not be described.

At the lower end portion of the pile there is disposed a sheet steel welded assembly indicated generally at 14. As illustrated in the drawings, this assembly is located near the tip but is spaced a distance from the latter, say, a distance of five feet, for example. The lower end portion of the pile, that is, the tip portion, has the peripheral part thereof which is formed of concrete roughened for a purpose which will appear hereinafter. The roughening of this portion of the pile surface formed of concrete may take the form of corrugations or serrations, for example, and this roughened concrete portion may extend 10 feet, for example, from the tip toward the head, interrupted only by the aforementioned welded steel assembly 14. It will be noted that the pile is of substantially uniform cross-sectiona dimensions throughout its length except for the area of the welded sheet steel assembly 14.

Within this cross section (FIG. 2) are disposed four planar sheets of steel 16, one on each side of the pile, each having its outer face exposed to form a peripheral surface portion of the pile. The plates 16 are Welded one to another along their corresponding side edges so that the plates 16, when welded together, form a structure which in horizontal cross section is rectangular. As indicated in FIG. 2, in which two oppositely arranged plates 16 are shown, the upper ends or edges of the plates 16 approach the cross-sectional dimensions of the concrete portion of the pile next above the plates 16. The lower ends of the plates 16 converge toward one another in the manner shown in the last-mentioned view to lie substantially within the aforementioned cross-sectional dimensions of the major portion of the length of the pile.

The weldment 14 includes four trapezoidal planar sheets 18 of steel, one on each side of the pile directly below the plates 16, each having one side thereof welded to the lower end of the corresponding plate 16 and being welded on two sides to its neighboring plates 18, the trapezoidal plates 18 forming together a structure which is also of rectangular horizontal cross section. As indicated in FIGS. 2 and 5, the trapezoidal plates 18 form beveled pe ripheral surface portions of the pile, the lower margins of the plates 18 being substantially flush with the crosssectional area of the pile formed of concrete next below the plates 18. Each trapezoidal plate 18 has an opening 20 formed therein intermediate the upper and lower margins thereof for a purpose which will be explained hereinafter, the opening being in the middle portion of the plate. The sheet steel plates 16 and 18 may be approximately /8 of an inch thick, for example.

A grout tube 21, which may be approximately 2 inches in diameter by way of example, extends generally lengthwise of the pile, the upper end portion thereof having a lateral extension 22 extending through one side of the pile a distance below the head 11, the last-mentioned distance being in the neighborhood of 2 /2 feet, by way of example. The aforementioned lateral extension 22 of the grout tube may be externally threaded, as shown, for temporary connection to a pipe for a purpose to be explained hereinafter. The grout tube runs down the center of the pile as shown and may have the lower end thereof externally threaded as indicated in FIG. 6 for connection to an internally threaded grout nozzle, indicated generally at 23, best shown in the last-mentioned view.

The grout nozzle 23 comprises a vertically arranged tubular body member 24 having the lower end thereof closed as by an integral cap 25. Extending radially from the lower portion of the body 24 are a plurality (in this case four) of tubular nozzle outlets 26 communicating with the interior of the body 24, the outlets being angled upwardly as shown in the drawings and each registering with one hole 20 formed in the corresponding plate 18 at its discharge end.

Four pairs of shear or uplift plates 28 are provided formed of sheet steel of approximately of an inch thickness, the plates having the outline best shown in FIG. 2,

' 'wherein two of the plates are shown, one pair being provided on each side of the pile in edgewise relation thereto. The plates 28 of each pair are laterally spaced apart in the manner best shown in FIG. and also spaced laterally of the corresponding opening in such a manner that the opening 20 is disposed intermediate the pair of shear plates. Each plate 28 has an edge portion corresponding to the angularity of the disposition of the corresponding plate 16 as indicated in FIG. 2, and this edge of the plate 23 is welded thereto as at 29. The upper edge 30 of each shear plate 28 is substantially horizontal. The aforementioned horizontal edge 30 of each shear plate converges with a downwardly and linearly angled edge 31 converging toward the axis of the pile in the manner indicated in FIG. 2.

An edge of each shear plate 28 is angled in a complemental manner to the corresponding plate 18 and is welded thereto as at 32. The shear plates 28 are so dimensioned and arranged that the lower ends thereof, particularly the edges 31, substantially meet the cross-sectional dimension of the peripheral concrete portion of the pile next below the bevels formed by the plates 18 in the manner shown in FIG. 2. Hence the edges 31 of the shear plates angle upwardly and outwardly in linear fashion from the adjacent lower concrete section of the pile.

In accordance with the invention the pile is constructed by forming a mold of the length required for the pile, forming the weldment 14 without the shear or uplift plates 28 thereon and assembling this with the grout tube and nozzle in the mold, leaving the outer faces of the plates 16 and 18 of the weldment 14 exposed to the sides of the mold, positioning the prestressing wires in the mold (the wires and their prestressing being no part of the invention), prestressin g thewires and pouring the grout into the mold and curing it. It will be obvious from the foregoing that steel plates at each end of the pile are placed in the mold prior to the pouring of the grout. If desired, the previously-mentioned pipe shoe extension for seating in rock is substituted for the tip plate of the pile. When the concrete has been cured in a conventional manner in the mold, the partially formed pile is removed from the mold and the shear plates 28 are then welded in place in the manner previously indicated. Of course, the openings 20 in the plates 18 of the weldment, aligned with the nozzle outlets, are maintained in open condition during the molding operation in any suitable and conventional manner.

It will also be appreciated that the opening in the end of the lateral extension 22 of the grout tube extends Without the mold and is maintained in open condition during the molding operation. Upon completion of the fabrication of the pile in the aforementioned manner, the pile has the configuration previously shown and described. In this connection it may be noted that, as indicated in the drawings, the finished pile comprises concrete extending substantially throughout the length thereof, that is, uninterruptedly around the grout tube throughout its length and through the weldment 14 and around the nozzle except, of course, for openings 20 in the plates 18.

The pile is driven in a conventional manner by means of a hammer dropping on the head of the pile. It is driven in this manner to its designed length, at which point the hammer may be removed. The grout tube 21 through its lateral threaded extension 22 is threadedly connected to a suitable pipe through which grout is forced into the grout tube at pressures up to approximately 200 pounds per square inch. The grout forced in this manner into the tube 21 exits from the nozzle 23 through the openings 20 in the plates 18 which, it should be mentioned, tend to remain clear of earth during the driving of the pile due to the beveling of the portion of the pile formed by the plates 18 and also due to protection of these openings formed by the shear or uplift plates 28. It may be noted further that due to the disposition and angu-larity of the edges 31 of these plates, resistance caused by the weldment 14 to the driving of the pile into the earth is maintained at a low level.

The grout issuing from the weldment 14 tends to surround the lower end portion of the pile in the manner indicated in FIG. 4, mixing with any granular soil in the area and embedding the shear or uplift plates 28. When the grout is cured in the earth in a natural manner, it forms a bulbous concrete mass tending to extend below the tip of the pile which was driven into the ground, adhering to the roughened surface of the pile, and it will be appreciated that, due to the embedment of the shear plates in this concrete mass which forms a substantial support for the pile and the load which it is required to carry, the bulb has great resistance to any shearing effect with respect to the pile, particularly, but not limited to, any twisting forces exerted on the pile, thereby rendering a very superior pile construction of its type.

While only one form of the invention has been shown in the drawings and described above, it will be appreciated by those versed in the art that the method and the product thereof are susceptible of various changes and modifications in details without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a pile to be driven into the earth for load bearing purposes, an elongated body of concrete of substantially uniform cross section throughout the greater part of the length thereof, comprising the greater part of the mass and peripheral surface of the pile and extending sub stantially from the head to the tip thereof, the body having therein passageway-defining means for grout extending through the periphery of the pile in the end portion thereof nearest the head for removable connection to a source of grout and extending to the end portion of the pile nearest the tip, terminating in a plurality of up wardly angled circumferentially spaced discharge ports, and metal jacket-forming means on the periphery of the body in the area of said ports and having first portions provided with apertures aligned with the respective ports, said first portions being inclined to converge toward the head of the pile and terminating in the opposite direction in substantially flush relation with that portion of the body next toward the tip, said jacket-forming means comprising second portions next toward the head from the respective first portions in fixed relation thereto, said second portions diverging toward the head and terminating in this direction in substantially flush relation with that portion of the body next toward the head, said jacket-forming means further comprising laterally outwardly extending projections on said first and second portions, said projections being vertically arranged in peripherally spaced relation on said jacket with at least certain of said projections disposed on either side of each of said apertures, and said jacket-forming means tending to prevent clogging of said ports with earth when. t e pile is driven and providing means for embedment in a cementitious bulb formed in the area of the tip portion of the pile to resist shearing forces relatively to the bulb, after the bulb has been formed by grout discharged through said ports and the jacket-forming means.

'2. A pile as defined in claim 1 wherein said projections on the jacket-forming means comprise shear plates each having edge portions conforming to the angul'arity of said first and second portions of the jacket-forming means and having a laterally outwardly facing edge portion inclined so as to diverge from said tip, said shear plates each having a substantial surface area.

3. A pile as defined in claim 2 wherein said body is generally of rectangular cross section, constricted in the area of said jacket forming means, and said shear plates are arranged in pairs, one on each side of said body, each pair of shear plates straddling one of said discharge ports.

4. In a pile to be driven into the earth for loadbearing purposes, an elongated body of concrete of substantially uniform cross section throughout the greater part of the length thereof, comprising the greater part of the mass and peripheral surface of the pile and extending substantially from the head to the tip thereof, means within the core of the body defining a passageway for grout and extending through the periphery of the pile in the end portion thereof nearest the head for removable connection to a source of grout and extending to the end portion of the pile nearest the tip, a grout nozzle Within said body in the last-mentioned end portion of the body and having passageways extending through the body in circumferentially spaced relation thereto forming discharge ports, said body being constricted in the area of said ports, and metal jacket forming means on the periphcry of the body in the area of said ports and having first portions provided with apertures aligned with the respective ports, said first portions being inclined to converge toward the head of the pile and terminating in the opposite direction in substantially flush relation with that portion of the body next toward the tip, said jacket-forming means comprising second portions next toward the head from the respective first portions in fixed relation thereto, said second portions diverging toward the head and tenninating in this direction in substantially flush relation with that portion of the body next toward the head, said jacket-forming means further comprising laterally outwardly extending projections on said first and second portions, said projections being vertically arranged in circumferential-1y spaced relation on said jacket with at least certain of said projections disposed on either side of each of said apertures, and said jacket-forming means tending to prevent clogging of said ports with earth when the pile is driven and providing means for embedment in a cementitious bulb formed in the area of the tip portion of the pile to resist shearing forces relatively to the bulb, after the bulb has been formed by grout discharged through said ports and the jacket-forming means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,084,063 1/1914 Bignell 61-56 1,954,070 4/1934 Cook 61-56 2,025,948 12/1935 Jorgensen 61-53.6 3,088,187 5/ 1963 Justice 264-228 3,162,709 12/1964 Davidson 264-22'8 JACOB SHAPIRO, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A PILE TO BE DRIVEN INTO THE EARTH FOR LOAD-BEARING, PURPOSES, AN ELONGATED BODY OF CONCRETE OF SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM CROSS SECTION THROUGHOUT THE GREATER PART OF THE LENGTH THEREOF, COMPRISING THE GREATER PART OF THE MASS AND PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF THE PIPE AND EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY FROM THE HEAD TO THE HIP THEREOF, THE BODY HAVING THEREIN PASSAGEWAY-DEFINING MEANS FOR GROUT EXTENDING THROUGH THE PERIPHERY OF THE PILE IN THE END PORTION THEREOF NEAREST THE HEAD FOR REMOVABLE CONNECTION TO A SOURCE OF GROUT AND EXTENDING TO THE END PORTION OF THE PILE NEAREST THE TIP, TERMINATING IN A PLURALITY OF UPWARDLY ANGLED CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED DISCHARGE PORTS, AND METAL JACKET-FORMING MEANS ON THE PERIPHERY OF THE BODY IN THE AREA OF SAID PORTS AND HAVING FIRST PORTIONS PROVIDED WITH APERTURES ALIGNED WITH THE RESPECTIVE PORTS, SAID FIRST PORTIONS BEING INCLINED TO CONVERGE TOWARD THE HEAD OF THE PILE AND TERMINATING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION IN SUBSTANTIALLY FLUSH RELATION WITH THAT PORTION OF THE BODY NEXT TOWARD THE TIP, SAID JACKET-FORMING MEANS COMPRISING SECOND PORTIONS NEXT TOWARD THE HEAD FROM THE RESPECTIVE FIRST PORTIONS IN FIXED RELATION THERETO, SAID SECOND PORTIONS DIVERGING TOWARD THE HEAD AND TERMINATING IN THIS DIRECTION IN SUBSTANTIALLY FLUSH RELATION WITH THAT PORTION OF THE BODY NEXT TOWARD THE HEAD, SAID JACKET-FORMING MEANS FURTHER COMPRISING LATERALLY OUTWARDLY EXTENDING PROJECTIONS ON SAID FIRST AND SECOND PORTIONS, AND PROJECTIONS BEING VERTICALLY ARRANGED IN PERIPHERALLY SPACED RELATION ON SAID JACKET WITH AT LEAST CERTAIN OF SAID PROJECTIONS DISPOSED ON EITHER SIDE OF EACH OF SAID APERTURES, AND SAID JACKET-FORMING MEANS TENDING TO PREVENT CLOGGING OF SAID PORTS WITH EARTH WHEN THE PILE IS DRIVEN AND PROVIDING MEANS FOR EMBEDMENT N A CEMENTITIOUS BULB FORMED IN THE AREA OF THE TIP PORTION OF THE PILE TO RESIST SHEARING FORCES RELATIVELY TO THE BULB, AFTER THE BULB HAS BEEN FORMED BY GROUT DISCHARGED THROUGH SAID PORTS AND THE JACKET-FORMING MEANS. 